The opposition leader has been condemned for a “disgusting” personal attack on a senior government figure, who she claimed had not shed any tears over the Bondi massacre.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the coalition attempting to score political points out of the tragedy would jar badly with Australians.
“I thought that was a disgusting element of an increasingly partisan politics in the wake of a national crisis,” he told ABC Radio National on Tuesday.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley earlier came out swinging at Foreign Minister Penny Wong after the senior Labor frontbencher said she wanted to see Australians take the temperature down following the Bondi terror attack.
Fifteen people were killed and dozens more seriously injured when two Islamic State-inspired gunmen opened fire on an event for the first night of Hanukkah celebrations.
“I haven’t seen Penny Wong on the streets of Bondi,” Ms Ley said on Monday.
“I haven’t seen Penny Wong at the vigil for 15 innocent murdered Australians.
“I didn’t see Penny Wong at Bondi last night at the eighth night of Hanukkah. I didn’t see Penny Wong attend a single funeral. I haven’t seen Penny Wong shed a single tear.”
Mr Bowen said those remarks said more about Ms Ley than it did about Senator Wong.
“Australia has in the past come together at moments like this, whether it be the Lindt Cafe or Port Arthur, and oppositions have chosen not to make political points,” he said.
“Susan Ley, I think, needs to reflect on her behaviour yesterday, it was pretty disgusting.”
But the opposition leader doubled down on her comments on Tuesday, saying she made no apologies for her “passion for Australians, for Jewish Australians and for this hideous act of terrorism”.
“I’ve been down there (Bondi),” she told Nine’s Today program.
“The prime minister has hardly been there. Penny Wong has not been there at all. Her calls to take the temperature down were totally inappropriate.”
Jewish leaders have also criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government for a perceived lack of action to tackle anti-Semitism before the attack.
Mr Albanese was booed when he attended a vigil at Bondi on Sunday to mark a week since the attack, while his NSW Labor counterpart Chris Minns was greeted by a standing ovation.
The federal government has resisted calls for a national royal commission into the massacre, instead launching a more limited review of federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies and backing a NSW inquiry.
The opposition has been joined by a handful of Labor backbenchers in pushing for a broad federal inquiry, which the coalition wants to focus on drivers of anti-Semitism before the attack.
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